China Open: Rafael Nadal scripts dramatic comeback victory to reach semi-finals

Rafael Nadal survived a major scare against Fabio Fognini of Italy

One more win. That’s what separates Rafael Nadal from the World No.1 ranking on the ATP Tour.

And, it almost didn’t happen.

Staring down the barrel at a 2-6, 1-4 deficit against Fabio Fognini of Italy in the first quarter-final of the day at the China Open in Beijing, Nadal mounted the sort of comeback that the world is now accustomed to.

From that point on, after a marathon game that lasted over 10 minutes , Nadal reeled off five straight games as he made a dramatic comeback to take the second set 6-4.

For a set and a half, Fognini was in simply stunning form and Nadal had no answer to the array of shots from the Italian. He was up 5-1 in the first set in no time, and though broken by Nadal when serving for the set, he fought back to break Nadal immediately in the very next game to take the opening set.

He was up against it once more in the second set as Fognini’s strokes kept finding the lines and the Italian looked to be in inspired form.

That was until that marathon sixth game of the second set, where Nadal and Fognini went at it exchanging break points and game points respectively.

After seeing five break points saved, Nadal converted on his sixth break point opportunity to bring it back to 2-4 and start off on his remarkable comeback.

With momentum behind him, Nadal broke Fognini to love in the third game of the decider before running away with the set and the match, winning 6-1 in the final set and taking the match 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in two hours and 15 minutes.

If Nadal wins his semi-final match, he will take over as World No.1 irrespective of Novak Djokovic’s results. If he loses though, Djokovic will have to win the title here to ensure that he stays No.1 for at least another week.

Nadal will play the winner of the quarter-final match between the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych and American John Isner.